The Effect of Succession Planning on Corporate Growth Strategy among Local Family Businesses in the Manufacturing Sector in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Family businesses are important contributors to wealth and employment creation in any country. Indeed the economic landscape of most nations remains dominated by family firms. In Kenya, one of the Vision 2030 objectives is to create new jobs and the growth of family businesses is important to help achieve this objective. Unfortunately, many family businesses collapse within the first few years of operation and others stagnate leading to loss of jobs and greatly affecting the Kenyan economy.Succession can be defined as the process through which the leadership of the business is transferred from the outgoing generation to the successor generation, which can either be a family member or a non-family member. A number of researchers have stated that one of the most significant factors that determine continuity of the family firm from one generation to the next is whether the succession process is planned. Companies that do not have succession plans have a lot at stake.  The founder of those businesses could see their lifelong hard work dismantled or even sold to non-family members. This study sought to investigate the effect of succession planning on growth strategy among the local family businesses in the manufacturing sector in Nairobi County.

Keywords: Familybusiness,Succession planning,Growth strategy,manufacturing.